Fernando Botelho — Brazil’s aviation champion gone too soon

Smart people have their money work for them through investments to become further enriched.

Great people use money furthering causes which enrich us all.

Fernando Botelho was both smart and great.

After the previous post about the flying Demoiseille replica-esque, Suzetet Rice of the Wings Over Miami Air Museum — where I saw the evolved creation of Alberto Santos-Dumont — related the tragic news of Mr. Botelho’s death in April. She said, “Fernando’s passing is so sad. He was a great friend and supporter of the museum. We miss his spontaneity and laughter as he would blitz through on visits. The lack of his energy among us makes his passing so much more difficult for those of us who knew him.”

He perished in a fiery crash of the T-28 Trojan he was piloting. The accident occurred while taking off from Aerodromo Dr. Augusto de A Botelho near Iterapina, Brazil.

He championed many causes, both aviation and non aviation related, along with Brazil’s aviation history. He redesigned Santos-Dumont’s Demoiseille creation to modern flying standards and built four of them so they would go on tour showing Brazil’s native son’s work in early aviation history.